10 Weeks of Winter

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

A journal style blog exploring the pleasure and enjoyment of winter.

First Post — 10 Weeks of Winter: An Introduction

Michelle is an American born Canadian resident of the Pacific Northwest, hobby writer, book lover, and generally of the autodidact polymath smattering of knowledge, skills, and interests.

Category: Creativity and Inspiration

  • A winter highlight… It’s the last week of January and we’re on the cusp of light returning in more and more noticeable ways, but winter is still here and it will be cold outside for a while longer. To me, this means there’s so much more time for coziness! Coziness has to be one of…

  • Minimalism lessons… Minimalism. It’s not for me. But I’ve learned from it. Minimalism achieves: All point to clarity and simplification. I benefit from minimalism even if it contrasts with my personality. I need what it achieves. Winter is a minimalist season. It is bare. In winter it is easier to see what matters. Observe this…

  • A puzzling experience… A friend of mine has recently taken up working puzzles on a whole new level. She’s talking about shapes of puzzle pieces, print quality, different types of matching and fitting, different types of problems or concepts in the puzzle picture, and speed puzzling. I’ve been over to her place working on puzzles…

  • A winter palette… In parts of the world where winter denies us the sculptural beauty of ice and snow it grants us another kind of outdoor pleasure that can be cultivated into a rewarding winter experience: winter gardening. Here in the green and blue wet winter a temperate climate permits certain plants to showcase their…

  • Roots… Somewhere in the cold dark silence of rest a place for dreaming waits like fertile ground to be planted. In the stillness of winter roots take priority over energy stores and systems. They emerge out of seed and bulb. They grow from tree and shrub down deeper reaching further into the subterranean world seeking…

  • Vacation incoming… It’s Christmas time! Kids are off from school, and many people are set to start vacations and holiday time off. As we head into the two weeks of Christmas and New Years most of us have a little extra time on our hands. Whether you have a million things you want to do…

  • From whence it came… I dislike the word ‘festooned’. It sounds too much like cartoon, and, in my opinion, is a cluttery word that describes cluttery decoration. But, it’s the right word, like it or not, for much of December Christmas and holiday decoration. It’s even the right word for nature’s seasonal décor. Those who…

  • Feeling the freeze… One of the greatest gifts of winter is one I’m inclined to fight: slowing down. At a molecular level the cold air arrests momentum lengthening the time between action and reaction. Nearly every children’s cartoon depicting a sudden freeze shows the fish or the frog or the flower or the chattering squirrel…